Tuesday, 30 June 2015

Some interesting links

1. "The territories along the world’s craziest border include the pièce de résistance of strange geography: the world’s only “counter-counter-enclave”: a patch of India surrounded by Bangladeshi territory, inside an Indian enclave within Bangladesh."

4. "Macnee’s mother took refuge in a circle of friends that included Tallulah Bankhead and the madam Mrs Meyrick, before absconding with a wealthy lesbian, Evelyn. Young Patrick was brought up by the pair and was instructed to call Evelyn “Uncle”. He managed to resist their efforts to dress him as a girl, wearing a kilt as a compromise. His father fled to India, from where he was later expelled for urinating off a balcony on to the heads of the Raj’s elite, gathered below for a race-meeting. Evelyn financed Macnee’s education, at Summer Fields — where he first acted, playing opposite Christopher Lee — and then Eton. His corruption began when he was introduced to whisky by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff, who had escaped into the garden with a bottle when brought in to consecrate Evelyn’s private chapel. Macnee was then expelled from Eton for running a pornography and bookmaking empire." That's what people read Telegraph obituaries for.

5. "The descendants of Scandinavian migrants in the
US combine the high living standards of the US with
the high levels of equality of Scandinavian countries.
Median incomes of Scandinavian descendants are
20 per cent higher than average US incomes. It is true
that poverty rates in Scandinavian countries are
lower than in the US. However, the poverty rate among
descendants of Nordic immigrants in the US today
is half the average poverty rate of Americans – this
has been a consistent finding for decades. In fact,
Scandinavian Americans have lower poverty rates
than Scandinavian citizens who have not emigrated.
This suggests that pre-existing cultural norms are
responsible for the low levels of poverty among
Scandinavians rather than Nordic welfare states." Make of that what you will.

6. "Readers can, of course, draw their own conclusions." Here is a chance to see the awesome sight of the Daily Mail's weapons being trained on a target, and to see an "anonymous EU official" being cited positively.

About Further or Alternatively (FOA)

FOA read PPE at Oxford and is now a barrister based in London.
"Further or alternatively" is a phrase used by barristers to introduce a new argument that may or may not be consistent with the previous ones: FOA may or may not be consistent with your other reading.